Alloy of the precious metals and method of increasing hardness of such alloy.



UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

AUGUSTE J. ROSSI, or NIAGARA rALLs, NEW YORK, nssrenon TO THE TITANIUM ALLOY MANUFACTURING COMPANY, or NEW YORK, N. Y., A conrona'rron or Patented Apr. 16, 1912.

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ALLOY OF THE PRECIOUS METALS AND METHOD OF INCREASING HARDNESS OF SUCH ALLOY.

1 ,023,334. Specification of Letters Patent. I No Drawing. Original application filed May 6, 1910, Serial No. 559,656. Divided and this application filed I have discovered that if to either of the January 25. 1912. Serial No. 673,359.

To all 111720121 it may (mm-1m.

Be it known that I, AUGUST-E J. Rossr, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Niagara Falls, in the county of Niagara and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Alloys .of the Precious Metals and Methods of Increasing Hardness of Such Alloys, of which the following is a specification.

My present application for patent is a division of my previous application Ser. N0.

559,656, filed May 6, 1910. I

My present invention relates to the hardening of such alloys including particularly such as used in coinage, jewelry and the like, and has for its object the imparting to such alloys so employed and containing present conventional proportions of copper, such novel increased hardness as will enable them to better resist frictional wear to which they may be subjected.

As well understood, the precious metals, 2'. a. gold and silver, are inherently so soft as to lose important proportions of their weight by the wear to which subjected when employed in coins, jewelry, or the like. It

to important undesired losses from fric tion and wear inuse, and the object of my present invention 1s to provide means for preventing such losses and the production of articles comparatively not subject thereto.

said preciousmetals, while molten, there 'be added the present usual conventional rowith titanium as per Letters Patent No.

935,863, granted to me October 5, 1909, or there be added to such precious metal, when molten together with the desired per cent. of previously unpurified or unalloycd copper, a small amount of titanium, or of my said alloy of copper with titanium, the final resulting alloy of said precious metal with copper will be so hardened as to substantially resist, without loss of weight, substantially all wear incident to ordinary usage.

My invention may be practiced as follows: The copper intended for use in hardening the precious metal whether gold or silver as aforesaid is first melted and to the molten bath thereof is added and melted therewith some of my alloy or compound of copper and titanium for which Reissued Letters Patent No. 12,761 were on March 17, 1908, granted to me, the amount of said alloy so added being preferably propor-. tioned to insure in the bath the presence of suflicient metallic titanium to combine with undesired elements and compounds present and leave a final copper product containing substantially no titanium, or, if desired, not to exceed 1% of titanium as per my said Letters Patent No. 905,232. The resulting purified copper product is then added to a bath of the molten precious metal, 71. e. gold or silver as the'case may be, and in such proportion as to secure in the final product or alloy the desired proportion of copper.

'The said resulting final product, being an that of a corresponding alloy to which, or

its constituents, the titanium has not been added.

It will be obvious that substantially the same results may be attained by adding to a bath of either molten gold or molten silver a certain amount ofcopper not previously treated with titianium as aforesaid and then also adding suflicient of my said alloy -of copper and titanium, containing asutficlent percent-age of titanium, to impart to the bath as a whole enough metallic titanium tocom' bine with all undesired elements and compounds present in said bath and leave in the final product thereof substantially no titanium.

I am satisfied that notwithstanding usually accepted comparative purity of the precious metals gold and silver, these nevertheless do contain in their usual commercial condition as raw materials more or less of undesired impurities and compounds,

which tend to 'impart to the mass undesirable susceptibility to abrasion and wear. Such impurities are, I believe, beneficially effected or removed through the action of the titanium when added as last above mentioned, and I therefore suggest that whenever analysis or other test discloses such impurities, care be taken to proportion the titanium added so as to insure its action thereon as well as on undesired elements, compounds -and impurities imported into the bath by the copper thereto added.

It will be understood that where the presence of some titanium per '86 may beunobjectionable, as for uses other than coinage, the titanium introducedmay be so proportioned as to leave in the final product a decided percentage of titanium, say up to 1%,

or thereabout, whereby in some instances It will be understoodthat my invention, as herein claimed, is limited to methods of treatment of gold, or its alloys, in which the titanium employed is of such proportion as to leave in the final resulting product more than traces of titanium.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letteis Patent is the following, viz

1. The metallurgical method which comprises bringing together in molten state gold, a harder metal, and titanium.

2. The metallurgical method which comprises bringing together in molten state gold, copper and titanium.

' 3. The method of producingan alloy of goldwith a harder metal which comprises bringing together in molten state gold and an alloy of said harder metal with titanium. 4. The method of producing an alloy of gold with a harder metal whlch comprises bringing together in molten state gold and an alloy of copper with titanium.

5. As a new article, a metallic substance composed principallyof gold, ahardermetal' therewith alloyed, and some titanium.

6. As a new article, a metallic substance composed principally of gold, copper there-' 

